KANO, Nigeria, Feb 5 (Reuters) - Few in Nigeria's secondcity of Kano would admit to supporting the Islamist insurgentswaging a bloody northern rebellion against the centralgovernment in Abuja.

But when Boko Haram talks of sweeping away the corrupt oldorder and creating an Islamic state to rule Nigeria fairly, theidea finds resonance with millions of desperate, strugglingNigerians in the north who feel the state has failed them.

"If the government treated people justly, there would noneof these problems," said Khalid Adamu, 45, piling apples intopyramids of red and green at his stall by a traffic-choked Kanostreet.

Glancing over his shoulder, he hastily added he did notsupport the Islamists' campaign of violence, which rights groupssay has killed more than 3,000 people in the past three years.

Boko Haram militants have carried out multiple bombings andshootings since the secretive sect launched an uprising in 2009,including a coordinated strike on Kano last year that left 186people dead -- still its deadliest attack to date in a campaignthat threatens the stability of Africa's largest oil producer.

"The government is supposed to look after health, education,water, but we see them doing nothing except getting rich, so whyare they surprised there is a rebellion?" Adamu said.

Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan last week highlightedlinks between Boko Haram and al Qaeda's north African wing, whomFrench forces chased out of cities in Mali, as evidence Nigeriais one of many countries facing a global jihadist threat.

He gave it as a reason for Nigeria's large contribution tothe West African peacekeeping force that is now gearing up totake over the battle against Saharan Islamists from the French.

Yet many northerners see the roots of the Boko Haraminsurgency as local, and doubt whether force can resolve thenorth's crisis if no efforts are made to address its grievance:the poverty bred by years of kleptocratic governance.

A ceasefire declared by a Boko Haram commander a week agoraised hopes the government could negotiate with the sect, butviolence has continued unabated, and no amount of talks willcreate opportunities needed to keep young people away from it.

"The devil has found work for our boys' idle hands," IbrahimShekarau, Kano's last governor and a 2011 presidentialcandidate, told Reuters. "The unemployed youth ... feel thepeople in power are not being fair to the man on the street.They want justice."

"HYPOCRITES AND LIARS"

Many doubt whether an Islamic state would deliver bettereconomic opportunities -- as opposed to just an efficient,accountable state -- but the idea often appeals to young Muslimsin nations where poor governance hinders economic opportunity.

"The target demographic for these people is 18-21s. They arefrustrated and alienated by society, by the way everyone inpolitics is only in it for themselves," said Mohammed Jinadu, anorthern opposition political leader and former legislator.

"Those (Boko Haram members) I've spoken to ... theircomplaints are the same as everyone's: that most of ourpoliticians are hypocrites and liars who have taken the countryfor a ride."

Last year Boko Haram, which means "Western education issinful" in the local language of northern Nigeria, pledged torevive the 19th century rule of Islamic scholar Usman Dan Fodio,who led a revolution to overthrow Hausa kings he saw as corruptand idolatrous.

Dan Fodio created the Sokoto caliphate over much of what isnow northern Nigeria, enforcing a stricter interpretation ofIslam.

Alluding to his rule evoked a yearning for the days of WestAfrica's great Islamic empires, when northern cities like Kanowere prosperous hubs for the fabled trans-Saharan trade routesconnecting Africa's interior with its Mediterranean coast.

A low rise city of Arabic-style flat roofed homes on thecusp of the Sahara, which at this time of year kicks up a hazeof fine sand, Kano retains a few traces of that past glory.

Outside a grand, green-domed mosque, young children in aKoranic school separated into boys and girls by an acacia treepractice Arabic calligraphy in torn notebooks.

The city's poverty is palpable: on most streets blindbeggars in rags, some accompanied by children in skull caps, tapon car windows, while hawkers offer wares along miles ofgridlock.

At independence from Britain in 1960 Kano prospered, but assouthern oil fields began to dominate the economy and a spate ofmilitary dictatorships entrenched corruption, the north wentinto decline. Textile mills starved of electricity went bust.

Education in northern states is dire, a legacy of Britishcolonialism, which allowed the north to protect its Islamicculture from missionaries at the expense of modern schooling.